Ryan Reynolds Reveals Rejected Deadpool 3 Pitches

The third movie went through a lot of iterations before enlisting Hugh Jackman's Wolverine.

By Patrick Cavanaugh

The first Deadpool movie was ambitious and unconventional for superhero cinema, to say the least, and while the first sequel had an organic premise for the follow-up, when it came to a third entry, Ryan Reynolds toyed with a number of ideas before the actual storyline came together. While only two years passed between the first two movies and with it having taken six years for this third movie to be released, Reynolds and his collaborators considered all manner of adventures, including a roadtrip story that would have been almost entirely stripped of visual effects. Deadpool & Wolverine will be landing in theaters on July 26th.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Reynolds revealed that one approach was "a Rashomon story that had these three different points of view." As far as a more stripped-down storyline was concerned, Reynolds detailed, "Literally, it was a $5- or $6-million budget with no special effects. It was just a talkie-talkie road trip with me and [Karan Soni's character] Dopinder and some of the things we collected and saw along the way. It wasn't meant to be an event movie. If we're on our way to Point C, it was meant to just get us to Point B. That was the weirdest one. I liked it. I thought it was kind of fun."

In the aftermath of the release of Deadpool 2, most fans had assumed that a direct continuation of Deadpool would be unlikely, given that that sequel concluded with the formation of the iconic X-Force team. Even Reynolds had previously hinted that he assumed an X-Force project would be more likely than a third Deadpool film. Then in 2019, all bets were seemingly off when 20th Century Fox was acquired by The Walt Disney Company, allowing Deadpool to officially enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Shocking everyone, Reynolds ultimately revealed that Hugh Jackman would return to his iconic role of Wolverine for the next entry, despite seemingly retiring from the role with 2017's Logan.

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In Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). The film also stars Matthew Macfadyen as Paradox, and Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, with the return of Deadpool alums Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Stefan Kapičić as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Rob Delaney as Peter, and Lewis Tan as Shatterstar. Aaron Stanford is returning as Pyro from the X-Men film series, with Jennifer Garner rumored to return as Elektra Natchios. 

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D'Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey and Simon Kinberg serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy. Deadpool & Wolverine will be released exclusively in theaters on July 26th.

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